Dawro Zone

rdf:langString Dawro Zone

rdf:langString Dawro (or Dawuro) is a zone in the South West Region of Ethiopia. It is located at about 500km southwest of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia and 319 km of Hawassa, the capital of the SNNPR. Dawuro is bordered on the south by Gamo Gofa Zone, on the west by the Konta special woreda, on the north by the Gojeb River which defines its boundary with the Oromia Region,Jimma zone, on the northeast by Hadiya and Kembata Tembaro Zones, and on the east by Wolayita Zone; the Omo River defines its eastern and southern boundaries. The administrative center of Dawuro was Waka before it was transferred to Tarcha. Dawuro has 111 kilometers of all-weather roads and 123 kilometers of dry-weather roads, for an average road density of 53 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. High points in this Zone include (3720 meters). Dawuro used to be part of the North Omo Zone, and the 1994 national census counted its inhabitants as part of that Zone. However friction between the various ethnic groups in Semien Omo, which was often blamed on the Welayta people for "ethnic chauvinism" and despite the efforts of the ruling party to emphasize the need to coordinate, consolidate, and unify the smaller ethnic units to achieve the "efficient use of scarce government resources", led to the division of the zone in 2000, resulting with the creation of the Dawuro, Gamo Gofa, and Wolayita Zones, and two special districts.